Page 5 of Beach Vibes

“Then you need to get out more,” Beth teased.

Beth set out cans of flavored water, bags of chips, a couple of cookies and two wraps. “Turkey, Brie, walnuts, lettuce, cucumber salsa and a dressing that is my own recipe.”

Jana groaned. “My idea of a sandwich is PB&J.”

“You have a little girl. Kids like familiar food.”

“Yes, and I lack culinary creativity. You’re a master at what you do.”

“Thanks. We actually have a PB&J menu at the shop where we do very interesting things with what should be a classic sandwich. We can grill it or add bacon or even pickles.”

Jana winced. “I get the bacon, but I’m not sure how I feel about pickles in the PB&J.”

“Yeah, not my favorite, either. Whenever we add menu items, we do several tastings, first with the staff, then with a few favorite and trusted customers. I’ll admit there were some faces about the pickles.”

Jana took a big bite of her wrap and groaned. “So good,” she mumbled, still chewing.

Beth let her eat before starting a conversation. She knew that Jana had gotten up early to get her daughter ready for preschoolbefore heading off to community college for classes. After that she would have gone directly to her part-time job. From there, she’d come to the food bank for her weekly shift.

It was a grueling schedule that should have sounded off-putting, only Beth couldn’t help being a little envious. When she’d been married to Ian, having a kid hadn’t seemed like a priority—there was always going to be time. But since the divorce, she’d found herself wanting a family more and more. She didn’t regret not having kids with Ian, but she wished she’d had them with someone.

Unfortunately, remembering that brought yesterday’s billboard encounter right to the front of her mind and made her sigh.

Jana finished the first half of her wrap and wiped her fingers. “That was perfect. Thank you. I’m less starving and can be more civilized now. What’s going on with you?”

“The usual,” she said automatically, before unexpectedly blurting out, “My ex-husband is getting married.”

Jana drew her eyebrows together. “Does that upset you?”

“No,” she said, then paused. “Yes.” She shook her head. “I don’t care that he’s found someone. We’re done. It was just the shock of how I found out and realizing he’s got a personal life and I don’t.”

“Howdidyou find out?” Jana asked. “Through mutual friends?”

“He proposed on a billboard.”

Jana’s surprise was almost comical. “As in ‘will you marry me’ up there for everyone to see?”

“I know, right? Worse, it was by the Costco. That’s romantic.” She considered the location. “I wonder if they met there. Then it would make sense.” She waved her hand. “Whatever the reason, what matters is I wasn’t expecting it, and for some reason, the information is unsettling.”

“Of course it is. Whether you care about him or not, who wants to see his proposal billboard?”

“Thanks. She said yes, by the way. I saw the pictures on Instagram.”

“So you’re torturing yourself,” Jana said lightly. “Maybe it’s time to let the Instagram connection go.”

“You’re right. It’s not like check in on him. I was just curious this one time.” She sighed. “He looks happy, and she’s happy. There are pictures of his whole family. We used to be tight, back when we were married. They were nice. But it’s not as if they wanted to stay in touch with me after the divorce.”

She hoped she sounded matter-of-fact but had a bad feeling a note of pathetic had crept into her voice.

“I’m totally fine,” she added briskly. “Things are great with me.”

Jana had finished the other half of her wrap and reached for a bag of chips. “I say this with love, but that wasn’t convincing. If you’re totally over him, which I believe you are, then none of this is about him or the wedding. It’s about you and why it’s bugging you.”

Beth nibbled at her wrap. “It was the shock.” She hesitated. “I guess part of it was seeing him with our friends. They used to be our friends, but now they’re his and, I assume, hers.” Her voice trailed off.

Jana nodded. “I get it. I’m doing a thousand things all the time, and I still have moments when I feel lonely. It’s a thing. My life hasn’t exactly been conventional. Before I had Linnie, I moved around a lot. Since then I’ve been scrambling to learn how to be a mom and figure out what I want to do with my life. It doesn’t leave a lot of time for me.”

“You need a longer day,” Beth said. “Just thinking about your schedule exhausts me.”

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